The Key Elements of Great Surgeries

The main reason why some people are constantly having back pains is most probably got something to do with two or more spinal vertebrae that is moving in frictional pace against each other, such that the movement affects the nearby nerves, ligaments, and muscles, which altogether can result into so much discomfort and this is why when spinal surgeons see this situation, they would rather recommend for a spinal fusion surgery in order to correct the dilemma, thus joining two or more spinal vertebrae into one single structure and stopping the clashing movement between these bones. A spine specialist will definitely ask the patient to undergo a series of tests first to fully determine the accurate cause of the back pain and, generally, spinal fusion surgery is recommended for the following causes: degenerative disk disease which is a situation where the space between the spinal disks are already narrow such that they are almost rubbing on each other; a broken spinal bone or fracture; a scoliosis abnormality which is when the spinal curves grow to one side; narrowing of the spinal canal or called spinal stenosis; a tumor growth on the spinal column which can cause a spinal infection; or the shifting movement of a spinal disk which in medicine is known as spondylolisthesis.

To perform spinal fusion surgery, depending on the specialty method of the surgeon, there are actually two ways to start the operation, which are by way of the surgeon doing the incision through the belly, which is known as anterior lumbar inter-body fusion, or by way of directly starting the incision from the back, which is called posterior fusion, and after doing any of this, the surgeon will see to it to move to the sides the muscles and organs so he can see the spine and inspect where the damaged area is, then immediately removes the joints between the spinal disks and replaces these using any of these: screws, rods, bone graft which is bone taken from the hip or pelvis and some surgeons after replacing the damaged joints will also include placing in of a bone morphogenetic protein, which is responsible for bone growth. Generally, every operation has its own risks, and so with spinal fusion surgery, where the risks can vary from bleeding, blood clots, infection, pain, risk from anesthesia to more serious problems, such as nerve injury which can result to numbness; tissue rejection and infection from a bone donor; or, worst, the surgery does not work and the back pain has returned.